The PVM console, called pvm,
is a stand-alone PVM task that allows the user to interactively
start, query, and modify the virtual machine.
The console may be started and stopped multiple times on any of the
hosts in the virtual machine without affecting PVM or any
applications that may be running.

When started, pvm determines whether PVM is already running;
if it is not, pvm automatically executes pvmd on this host,
passing pvmd the command line options and hostfile.
Thus PVM need not be running to start the console.

pvm [-n<hostname>] [hostfile]

The -n option is useful for specifying an alternative name for the
master pvmd (in case hostname doesn't match the IP address you want).
Once PVM is started, the console prints the prompt

pvm>

and accepts commands from standard input. The available commands are

add

followed by one or more host names,
adds these hosts to the virtual machine.

alias

defines or lists command aliases.

conf

lists the configuration of the virtual machine
including hostname, pvmd task ID, architecture type,
and a relative speed rating.

delete

followed by one or more host names, deletes these hosts
from the virtual machine.
PVM processes still running on these hosts are lost.

echo

echo arguments.

halt

kills all PVM processes including console, and then shuts down PVM.
All daemons exit.

help

can be used to get information about any of the
interactive commands. Help may be followed by a command name
that lists options and flags available for this command.

id

prints the console task id.

jobs

lists running jobs.

kill

can be used to terminate any PVM process.

mstat

shows the status of specified hosts.

ps -a

lists all processes currently on the virtual machine,
their locations, their task id's, and their parents' task id's.

pstat

shows the status of a single PVM process.

quit

exits the console, leaving daemons and PVM jobs running.

reset

kills all PVM processes except consoles,
and resets all the internal PVM tables and message queues.
The daemons are left in an idle state.

setenv

displays or sets environment variables.

sig

followed by a signal number and TID, sends the signal to the task.

spawn

starts a PVM application. Options include the following:

-count

number of tasks; default is 1.

-host

spawn on host; default is any.

-ARCH

spawn of hosts of type ARCH.

-?

enable debugging.

->

redirect task output to console.

->file

redirect task output to file.

->>file

redirect task output append to file.

-@

trace job, display output on console

-@file

trace job, output to file

trace

sets or displays the trace event mask.

unalias

undefines command alias.

version

prints version of PVM being used.

The console reads $HOME/.pvmrc before reading commands from the tty, so
you can do things like

PVM supports the use of multiple consoles.
It is possible to run a
console on any host in an existing virtual machine and even
multiple consoles on the same machine. It is also possible to start
up a console in the middle of a PVM application and check on its
progress.